


Fight To The Finish

by starlight_starbright



Series: Civil War Ficlets [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Arguments, Bucky is Overprotective, Capture the Flag, Hurt!Steve, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, bucky is so insecure, just for fun, unintentional violence, worried!bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5656981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_starbright/pseuds/starlight_starbright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shall we play a game?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fight To The Finish

**Author's Note:**

> Just a lil break from all the angst I've been writing. Happy New Year!!

"Shall we play a game?" Natasha asks, smirking. They've been arguing about whether or not to play this stupid game for almost twenty minutes.

"It'll be fun," Tony pleads. Steve isn't impressed, but then Bucky gives him his best puppy dog eyes, and Steve knows he's done for. 

"Please?" Bucky asks innocently.

"Not fair," Steve grumbles. He has a really bad feeling about this. Bucky is still recovering and fighting the people he's just beginning to trust, even if it's a game, may be detrimental to his recovery. 

"Please?"

"Not gonna work," Steve says again, but he knows he's lying. He's never been able to deny Bucky anything.

"Please, Stevie?" Bucky asks one more time, metal hand finding purchase on Steve's hip. Steve looks over at Tony and Natasha who are beaming at him, and then over to Clint and Sam who look way too amused, and then over to the quiet man leaning against the door. He looks bored to be here, but T'Challa always looks like that. 

"Fine!" Steve says. "Fine, we'll play your damn game."

"Boyfriend powers for the win!" Natasha calls. Steve rolls his eyes and acquiesces when Tony piles them all into the jet. 

-

It's called capture the flag, and it's about as easy as it sounds. You pick a place, split it in half, and divide into two teams. Each team gets a flag—an object easily noticeable—and hide it. It doesn't matter where other than it has to be partly visible. Then, you try to find the other team's flag.

Easy, right?

Wrong.

Tony has made them these guns that fire electric bullets rather than normal bullets—they don't want to kill anyone. The stunners will keep you down for ten seconds, and special ones that will momentarily knock Tony's suit out of commission. It won't take down Clint's arrows, but it will take down Clint.

So they set it up out in the middle of nowhere—where no one will bother them or walk in the middle of their game. Because this could get violent.

All in good fun, of course.

"Remember," Natasha says. "Each team gets a flag, and you have to hide it on your side. It has to be at least partially visible. To win, you have to find the other team's flag, and then get everyone on your team back to your side of the field, along with the opposing team's flag. Understood?" There's a holler from the back—Scott probably—and Bucky joins in. 

And they pick team captains—Steve and Tony—and then go about picking teams.

"You go first," Steve tells Tony, eyeing him up. The brunet shrugs, and surveys the people in front of him.

"Rhodey," he says, and he walks over to stand beside him. 

"Buck," Steve counters, and his boyfriend walks over and slides an arm around his waist.

"Natasha," Tony says after a brief deliberation. He's playing hardball now.

"Sam," Steve says, beckoning his friend over.

"Gonna kick ass," Sam says, adjusting his wings. Bucky grins.

"You wish," Natasha calls, and Sam flips her off. "Fuck you, too," she says, rolling her eyes.

"You wish you could get a piece of this," Sam fires back.

"Children," Steve says, playfully glaring at both of them.

"I'm sorry, Captain America, sir," Natasha says seriously. She keeps a straight face for all of two seconds before laughing.

"Vision," Tony says, smirking over at Steve. 

"Clint."

"T'Challa." And when Steve looks, there's only Scott left. He takes being last with good humour, looking around before grinning and walking over to Steve's team.

"I picked first," Tony says, "So Steve, you get to choose what side you want." Both sides are kind of bare. There's a few buildings, sparse forest, and the rest is just fields.

"We'll take the forest," Steve says, and Bucky squeezes him in agreement.

"Here I was thinking you were a clean-cut kinda guy," Natasha drawls, and Steve ignores her. 

"Alright then," Tony says. "JARVIS, suits." And the Iron Man suit as well as the War Machine suit come down from where they were hovering in the sky, encasing Tony and Rhodey in metal.

"Here are the flags and the guns," Natasha says, handing Clint a neon green piece of cloth the size of a normal flag, and taking an orange one for their team before handing out the guns and then Clint's special arrows. Then she hands them each an earpiece. "Each team has its own channel so you can communicate. Twenty minutes to hide it and strategise, and then JARVIS will tell us when to start." Tony and his team head off the opposite way, leaving Steve and his team alone to figure out where to put their flag.

"We could put it in a tree," Clint suggests, looking around.

"But Tony, Rhodey, and Vision will be flying around," Sam says.

"We could put it on top of the building?" Scott asks. 

"Flying," Sam sighs, looking around. Steve scours their side, looking for somewhere to put it.

"There!" Bucky says, taking off into the trees. The rest of them look at each other for a second before following. Bucky's a good ways ahead of them all when he finally stops. When they finally catch up, they're panting, but Bucky is beaming at this tree. 

A tree.

"A _tree_?" Clint asks, looking offended. "I literally just said that." 

"Not up _in_ the tree," Bucky says, a bit exasperated. "In here." And he points to a little hole in the tree, just big enough to stuff the flag into.

"Good idea," Steve says. "Do it. Me, Bucky, and Scott will go for their flag. It's probably in the building somewhere, knowing Tony. Sam and Clint, protect the flag. Don't stay too close, but don't go too far. Sam, let us know if they get too close and I'll fall back." Steve hefts his shield and gun up, and then looks around. An air horn blows, typical Tony, and the game is on.

"Goddamn it, Tony," Clint mutters. There had been a lot of air-horning lately.

"Stay low," he tells Bucky. "There's a lot of open field. Scott, shrink and find the flag. We'll distract them." Steve looks over at Bucky who grins, and then they set off. They get a few yards into enemy territory before Sam comes over the comm.

"Rhodey is headed your way," Sam says. "I don't think he saw you. Find cover for him to pass over." Bucky points at some bushes and they dive in, effectively hiding themselves. "Clear. There's no one in the vicinity."

"You go left, I'll go right," Bucky says. "I'll take the front of the building, you go in the back." 

"Rhodey and Natasha are in the building on our side," Sam says. "Clint is going to cut them off."

"Scott?" Bucky asks.

"In the building. I don't see it yet."

"That leaves T'Challa and Tony guarding the flag," Sam says. "Not gonna be easy to get past those two."

"Two super soldiers and Ant Man?" Scott scoffs. "It'll be no problem." Steve cracks a smile.

"Let's go," Bucky says, and they jog in opposite directions toward the building, keeping their heads down and staying as silent as possible. 

But it's not good enough.

A stunner finds purchase in Steve's thigh, and he looks up to see Tony fly past him. He fires back, but Tony dodges out of the way, landing in a crouch. He fires again, but Steve is ready this time with his shield and he deflects it.

"Found the flag!" Scott calls over the comm. Steve takes another stunner to the side and he picks it off of his body, mildly annoyed. 

"Bucky!" Steve calls.

"Got it," Bucky mutters.

"Rhodey is closing in on the flag," Clint says.

"Take him out," Bucky gasps. "T'Challa is on my ass." And that's when Tony attacks again, sending a blast toward Steve, who brings his shield up to deflect it. 

"Roger that," Clint replies around a laugh. "See what I did there?"

"Shut the fuck up," Steve says, blocking another stunner from Tony before bringing his shield down at the junction between his arm and his shoulder.

"Okay, ow," Tony says, before throwing a punch. Steve dives out of the way and reaches for his gun that has fallen on the ground. Tony gets there first, kicking the gun away and shooting a stunner at Steve's neck. And maybe it's just because it was his neck, but this one was so much more painful than the rest. Steve thinks he blacks out for a few seconds, but then he opens his eyes. There's a moment where he doesn't know where he is, but then it comes flooding back and he jumps to his feet, grabbing his gun at the same time.

Now, he's no sharp-shooter like Bucky, but he likes to think he's a pretty good shot. He takes stance, aims--both eyes open--and shoots straight for Tony, soaring toward the building.  It latches onto the metal and Tony's suit stiffens and he falls to the ground with a dull thump. "Fuck you, Rogers," Tony calls as Steve sprints past him toward the building.

He gets to the stairs before Tony catches up, and he takes two stunners to the back, falling face first into the concrete. His head smacks the ground and bounces, and his vision goes blurry. But, as always, he shakes it off quickly and gets back up.

"Payback's a bitch!" Tony calls, flying above Steve to the top of the building. Steve's entire body aches, but he follows—sprinting up the stairs.

"Could use some help here," Bucky calls. So Steve picks himself up and sprints up the stairs. "They're double teaming me." So Stark and T'Challa are both fighting Bucky, and Steve is his only back up.

This is going to be fun.

"On my way," Steve says, picking up the pace. He can only go so fast, though, because the building is practically falling apart. The walls crumbling, stairs missing or broken, windows blown out. It's slower going than Steve would like.

"I have the flag!" Scott calls. "Heading back to our side.

"Bucky, get out of there and help me cover Scott," Steve says, changing directions and jumping off the side of the run-down building. But then, out of nowhere, Vision knocks Steve down by firing ten stunners in a row. Steve hits the ground hard, letting out a muffled groan, and forces his hands to work so he can dig them out of his body. He's still tingly when he gets up, but he runs anyway, blocking Vision's stunners as they come.

"They're on my ass," Bucky says. "Get back as quick as you can." So Steve runs, blocking the Vision's stunners as best as he can, but he still takes a lot of them, stumbling and getting back up and stumbling and getting back up until another air horn sounds, signalling the end of the game. Steve hadn't realised he'd made it to their side of the field with the others. 

"Winner: Captain Rogers' team," JARVIS says over all of their comms. There's a collective groan from the other team, but Steve isn't paying them any attention. He's collapsed on the ground, breathing hard. He can feel multiple shallow cuts, but nothing seems serious other than his head. And that can wait because all Steve wants to do right now is sleep. 

"Steve?" Bucky calls. Steve smiles into the grass. They won and now he'll get bragging rights and Bucky in his bed all night.

Sounds like a good ending to him.

" _Steve_!" Bucky calls again, more panicked this time. Steve tries to push himself up, but his muscles are too tired and the grass feels good on his face. "Stevie, what hurts?" Bucky asks, sliding to his knees by Steve's head.

"I'm fine, Buck," Steve murmurs, turning his head so he can see his boyfriend.

"No you're not," Bucky growls, picking the stunners out of Steve's skin. He hadn't even realised they were still there. And then Bucky is helping Steve up. Dizziness and nausea hit him in waves, muscles screaming at him to just lay back down. Letting out an involuntary groan, Steve shifts his weight so his torso is supported by Bucky.

"Give me a few minutes," Steve says. "I'll be fine."

"Everything okay?" Sam asks over the comm. Steve hadn't realised they were still on. 

"Yeah," Steve says. Bucky looks over at him, as Steve just shakes his head. "Give me ten minutes."

"Alright," Sam replies, a bit apprehensive now. "Let me know if you need me." And then Steve takes the earpiece out.

"Steve, you're bleeding," Bucky says, worry colouring his tone.

"Give me a few minutes," Steve repeats.

"Who did this?" the brunet demands. "Tony?" And at Steve's hesitation, Bucky knows. And holy _shit_ is he angry.

"Stark!" Bucky yells, making to get up.

"Bucky!" Steve pleads, holding the brunet down. "You're being ridiculous. I'm fine." And he really is fine other than a dull throb in his head.

The serum heals quickly. 

Bucky looks him over, wiping the blood off of Steve's head with this flesh hand to feel perfectly healed skin. 

"You're okay," he breathes, sliding his hand back so he can tangle his fingers through Steve's hair.

"I'm okay," Steve agrees, bringing his hand to rest on Bucky's metal shoulder.

"Jesus God, Stevie," Bucky groans, pulling Steve into a hug. "Don't ever fucking scare me like that again." And then Bucky laughs for a moment before it turns into heaving sobs. 

"Shh," Steve soothes. "I'm okay. We're okay. I love you." He presses his face into Bucky's neck and hugs him close.

He quiets within a few minutes, and then Steve pulls him up and they make their way to the jet. Steve hadn't realised that the serum hadn't fully healed his leg muscles yet, but Bucky is there to take some of his weight. Sam looks at him funny when they sit down--Bucky touching as much of Steve as he can reach--but he doesn't say anything.

When Tony comes over to them, suit nowhere to be seen, Bucky looks up and glares.

"Sorry, Steve. It got kind of out of hand." And since Tony really does look apologetic, and it was just a game, Steve shrugs and gives a little half smile.

"It was all in good fun," he says, and Tony smiles back before walking back over to Rhodey and plopping down.

"He hurt you," Bucky breathes. "He hurt you." Steve dips his head so he can see Bucky's face.

"It was a game, Buck," Steve says gently. "He didn't hurt me in any way that mattered." And he didn't. Steve is completely fine, he just needed a few minutes to let the serum do its thing.

"You're okay? You're not just saying that?" Bucky looks so worried, and Steve is regretting agreeing to playing this game. He knew it wasn't going to be good for Bucky.

"I'm absolutely fine," Steve reassures him. "No one hurt me and I'm still here." Bucky looks like he's going to cry again, but Sam glances over at them and Bucky composes himself. Steve gives Sam a look, and Sam understands.

The jet lands, and Bucky pulls Steve up. The rest of the team is going to watch a movie and probably get drunk off their asses, but Steve and Bucky head straight up to their floor. 

They need to talk. 

But first, shower. They get out of their clothes and under the water quickly, just holding each other for a moment before Bucky turns Steve around to wash his hair. They don't say anything, just washing each other quietly. The impending conversation hangs over them like a cloud, but Steve knows they need to have it.

So Steve sighs and gets out of the shower, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist. Bucky follows his lead, silently following him into their room.

"I know what you're gonna say, Stevie," Bucky murmurs, pulling on pants just as Steve gets his on.

"I'm pretty sure you don't," Steve replies dryly, running the towel through his hair. "Bucky, I can take care of myself. I understand that I scared you, and I'm sorry, but it wasn't Tony's fault. It was a game." Looking over at Bucky, Steve can see the emotions flash across his face—anger, worry, uncertainty. "I'm not that little skinny kid anymore, Buck," Steve says, softer, gentler. "You don't have to protect me."

"But I do," Bucky whispers. "I do." Okay, now Steve is irritated.

"You have this image of me—someone you have to take care of. And I get it. I get it, Buck. You spent most of your life taking care of me. But you can't blame the team when I get hurt. Especially when it was just a game. Don't think it didn't see the bruise on your chest. But I'm not ready to fight T'Challa for that. Because I know you're okay. I hate seeing you hurt, but I know you can take care of yourself." Steve leans against the wall and Bucky perches on the edge of the bed. He drops his head into his hands and sighs.

"You don't understand," Bucky says, looking up at Steve. 

"I do understand," Steve snaps. "I understand perfectly and I see where you're coming from, but it needs to stop. If you're going to work with the team, you have to work with everyone, not just me."

"I know, I—“

"Buck," Steve cuts him off. "You can't question my decisions like that, okay? I know you worry, but not in front of everyone, okay? You don't need to take care of me anymore."

"I can't turn it off," Bucky says in a small voice. "I know you can protect yourself and I shouldn't have freaked out, but I saw you lying there, not moving, and all I could think is that I couldn't lose you. Not after I just got you back." He takes a few deep breaths and then looks up at Steve. "I'm sorry I overreacted. I just . . . that game probably wasn't a good idea for me." Steve chokes back the I told you so--now isn't the time to tease his boyfriend. Steve goes to kneel in front of him, hands squeezing Bucky's thighs. He's still frustrated, but Bucky's wellbeing is more important right now. 

"Shh, it's okay," Steve murmurs. "As long as you know. I would've been scared, too if it had been you." And that seems to make Bucky feel better, and Steve takes him into his arms. "I know it's hard, baby," he soothes. "You're doing so well. I just want to help you." And Steve feels Bucky nod, and Steve kisses him.

"We're okay?" Bucky asks, and Steve's face falls. "You're not gonna leave?" 

"Of course we are," he whispers. "Of course we're okay. Leave? We were just arguing. I'm never gonna leave you. You're still my best guy." And Steve smiles and kisses him again, trying to erase the doubt that he knows Bucky's feeling. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Stevie," Bucky says. "More than you know."


End file.
